Agentic Experience Design (AXD) is the discipline for designing trust-governed relationships between humans and autonomous AI systems. Founded in September 2024 by Tony Wood in Manchester, United Kingdom, AXD addresses how humans delegate, calibrate, observe, interrupt, and recover trust in agentic AI.
| Dimension | Traditional UX | Agentic Experience Design (AXD) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary material | Attention and affordance | Trust and delegation |
| User state | Present, navigating | Absent, delegating |
| Design output | Screens and interfaces | Outcomes and constraints |
| Temporal model | Session-based | Relationship-based |
| Success metric | Task completion | Trust calibration |
The 12 AXD Practice frameworks cover every major phase of the agentic experience lifecycle: (1) Intent Architecture Framework \u2014 designing the pre-execution contract. (2) Delegation Design Framework \u2014 authority architecture. (3) Autonomy Gradient Design System \u2014 calibrating how much autonomous decision-making the agent exercises. (4) Trust Calibration Model \u2014 trust formation, maintenance, erosion, and recovery. (5) Interrupt Pattern Library \u2014 when to surface decisions to
Each AXD framework has a direct commerce application. Intent Architecture governs purchase goal specification \u2014 how a human tells an agent what to buy and under what constraints. Delegation Design governs spending authority and scope. The Autonomy Gradient determines transaction approval levels. Trust Calibration provides provider reliability scoring. The Interrupt Pattern Library defines exception escalation triggers. Multi-Agent Orchestration handles supply chain coordination. Memory & Co
Traditional UX methods were built for screen-based interactions where the user is present and navigating an interface. AXD frameworks are built for agentic systems where the user is absent and the agent acts autonomously. UX methods focus on attention, affordance, and interaction flow. AXD frameworks focus on trust architecture, delegation design, and outcome specification. UX asks: how does the user navigate this screen? AXD asks: how does the user delegate authority, calibrate trust, observe a
Start with the Intent Architecture Framework and the Delegation Design Framework \u2014 these are the foundational pair. Intent Architecture ensures your users can clearly specify what they want the agent to achieve, including constraints, success criteria, and what must never happen. Delegation Design ensures the authority structure is well-defined \u2014 scope, consent, and revocation mechanisms. Once these are in place, add the Autonomy Gradient Design System to calibrate how much autonomous
The Observatory essays provide the theoretical foundation; the Practice frameworks provide the applied methodology. Each framework is grounded in one or more Observatory essays. For example, the Delegation Design Framework draws on the Delegation Design essay (Issue 004) and the Delegation Scope essay (Issue 018). The Trust Calibration Model draws on Trust Architecture (Issue 002), Trust Recovery Protocol (Issue 010), and Temporal Trust (Issue 017). The Failure Architecture Blueprint draws on th
AXD is not just a theory - it is a practice. The twelve frameworks below constitute the complete definitive suite for designing Each framework has been developed from the founding principles and stress-tested against real-world agentic design challenges in financial services, healthcare, enterprise technology, and government. The twelve frameworks map to distinct phases of the agentic experience lifecycle. Each addresses a specific design challenge that emerges as humans and agents move through delegation, operation, and governance. AXD requires fluency in domains designers have not traditionally needed to master. These are the core competencies of the emerging discipline - spanning intent design, trust psychology, orchestration, memory governance, and ethical constraint architecture. AXD draws from the organisations defining the infrastructure of agentic commerce. These are the reference points that inform the discipline's standards. Three protocols form the emerging communication infrastructure of the agentic age. They are complementary layers - each solving a different coordination problem in the agentic stack. The AXD Academy will offer structured learning paths for designers, product leaders, and organisations transitioning to agentic design. Courses, certifications, and cohort-based programmes - built to the same standard of rigour as the rest of the Institute. Key questions about the 12 AXD frameworks, their application to agentic commerce, trust architecture, delegation design, and how they differ from traditional UX methods.